The Freeman Gallery, 155 Freeman in Greenpoint is launching a series of pop-up dinners wtih "The Modern Armenian Woman" a veggie-friendly menu, though not vegan, boasts several courses with wine pairing included in the $85/plate price:

Hors d'oeuvres can be complicated and you could NEVER make enough. So for a last minute party plan, focus on simple options and quality Champagne. Careful selection of bubbly and a few quick and dirty recipes and you can have a bang-on New Year’s Eve party. We surveyed our writers for their favorite easy recipes. We also reached out to a few of our favorite Champagne houses for some fresh ideas for traditional bubbly.

Henriot Brut Souverain is 60/40 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir. It’s noted online as their entry-level Champagne which, I suppose, is in consideration of price. Regardless of cost, it is a terrific wine with a well defined balance of a bready nose and a crisp mild-citrus finish. A certain chalky minerality gives enough depth to broaden pairing options to include delicate meats (unctuous serrano ham but not spicy copa).

In the process of relocating I’ve realized that I will be forced into consolidating my kitchen into ¼ of the space that I’m accustomed to. This should translate into solid planning and decisions pre-move however I am expecting 18 boxes for “the kitchen” including wonderful machines like the air-drying dish rack, sous vide supreme, blenders, mixers, redundancies of chef’s knives, cutting boards, not to mention glassware, stemware, rocks glasses… etc.

We’ve obviously made some decisions. Our ice cream sundae glasses are no more. My Battlestar Galactica, New Glarus, Cakebread and other assorted memento-glassware are long gone. We’re relying on simply white (off-white) plates and gave away many small shakers of cinnamon… and threw out several large jars of honey (I wasn’t aware of that at the time).

Not only will this be a litmus test of what really matters in the world of kitchen electrics, it will also be a brutal contest for assorted syrup jars… condiments of all kinds, spices (more and less of each is my vote), dried ingredients, not to mention the hardest of choices… beer wine and spirits – which stay and which go.

I mean I know you only need one type of vodka, quantity over variety in that case (let the flame war begin), but how do you choose between gins, or whiskeys? Amaro and assorted liqueurs? How many bottles of Dark Lord are too many? The biggest problem will be how to make room for so many new things? Before I allow myself to buy bourbon-barrel aged Brooklyn Brine pickles, I must throw something away first.

I miss 2008... Granted an incarnation of the Doughnut Burger even made it to the cover of This is Why You're Fat". I feel the vintage video quality and compression artifacts add to the gritty feel of the dish. Kind of like the original 16mm-style Texas Chainsaw Massacre adds that icky-ness.

I struggle to come to grips with this stuff... we fetishize violence, so too gluttony! This is a how-to for biological weapons. Serious Eats has a great history of busting on Ms. Deen's tendency to try to kill her audience - Here's the link their Paula Deen Is Trying to Kill Us. It's more than kind of gross but it's awesome never-the-less. What would Bukowski or Burroughs be without the self-destruction?

Gastrocinephiles! So you've watched and rewound the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman multiple times? Your dreams involve recreating the timpano from Big Night? Then the NYC Food Film Festival is the place to be, celebrating the year's accomplishments in food film, food documentary, and of course, food porn. In its fifth year of running, the Food Film Fest is attracting all sorts of attention from food media, filmmakers, and even Mayor Bloomberg, who kicked off the opening ceremony by declaring "Food Film Fest Day" in New York.

Want to rub elbows with the nation's brightest culinary stars? The 6th annual StarChefs conference opened yesterday at the Park Place Armory with a star-studded roster of speakers.

The event is open only to industry professionals, however for culinary students and restaurant workers, this is a dazzling opportunity to ask questions and get your hands dirty with a workshop from your favorite kitchen god (or goddess). There is also opportunity to walk away with a dash of fame; 20 rising pastry chefs are in fierce competition to win the International Pastry Competition.

This year's theme was "The Sixth Sense: Intuition, Emotion and Experiential Evolution in Dining." Lots of fancy words, to be sure, but there is nothing pie-in-the-sky about Grant Achatz's determination to enter your psyche as a diner, as he spoke about the broadening role of food as entertainment.

The StarChefs conference is certainly smaller than other industry conferences (like the National Restaurant Association show), but the more intimate vibe allows you to dive in without feeling overwhelmed. There is a good smattering of equipment vendors, food suppliers and other merchandise to check out, but the real meat of the conference is not the Australian lamb, but the main stage presentations and workshops.

Want to hear about building a charcuterie empire? Daniel Boulud will enlighten you. Interested in making ethereally light macarons? Pierre Herme has traveled straight from Paris to guide you in an interactive seminar. Curious about the thought process that pushes a concept to a plate? Laurent Gras demonstrates visual storytelling through a fish eye and Picasso paintings.

More highlights and photos from the StarChefs conference after the jump:

When I left Italy in March, I'll confess it wasn't so much a graceful departure as a beeline to escape. I was tired of fighting bureaucracy in the Living Museum, missed the bustle of a proper city, and had eaten so much cured meat that my sweat stank with lactic fermentation. Italophiles may weep, but I'll say it anyway—I was totally over Italy and ready to abandon la dolce vita forever.

But like a mosquito to bare arms, I couldn't stay away for long. Soon, I'd gotten my fix of cilantro and tacos, and my kilo-block of parmesan had run out. Luckily, this is New York and you can get anything here—for a price—so I began discreetly scouting for new dealers.

They said Arthur Avenue was where I wanted to go. It seems that while the Little Italy of downtown Manhattan has long been overrun by tourists and Armenian restauranteurs masquerading as Italians, this little stretch of the Bronx still retains small town character and old men leisurely watching football.

Transportation to Arthur Avenue consists of taking the B/D train to Fordham, a solid 90-minute trek from Brooklyn. The surrounding neighborhood isn't the greatest, but during the day, I didn't feel uncomfortable at any point. After you leave the station, walk about seven blocks to the east along 186th St, then one block south on 3rd Ave, and another four blocks east on 187th St until you reach Arthur Ave. The Italian community is centered around this intersection, radiating 3-4 blocks in each direction.

We take for granted here at New York Foodies (and here in America in general) that we can say whatever comes to mind when writing up a new food spot. Despite the possibility we all face on the internet of getting hit by a SLAPP, we know that if it's the truth we can print it. Unfortunately that's not true everywhere. Xeni Jardin over at boingboing posted this yesterday:

A court in Taiwan this week ruled against a female food-blogger who said a local restaurant's beef noodles "were too salty," and that she'd seen cockroaches scurrying around in the restaurant. She gets 30 days in detention, two years of probation, and must pay 200,000 Taiwanese dollars (about $7K US dollars) in compensation to the restaurant.

Tressallier is an unusual grape in France, one that I had not heard from also known as Sacy (equally unusual), allegedly a cross between Gouais Blanc and a Pinot (apparently no one is sure if it's Blanc, Gris, or Noir!). It is grown in the upper Loire region of Auvergne, embedded deep in the center of France that it's off several Loire valley wine growing region charts.